I'm doing some research. Depression affects quality of roll?

[LogicSoDeveloped]

If two people, one clinically depressed, the other, perfectly normal, both took the same amount of MDMA, could they expect the same strength of effects? Same bodyweight, height, etc. I'm asking if the only difference is depression, would the roll be different.

 

[matt2012]

no...well maybe...The objective effects would be the same but the subjective effects may differ widely. but just because a person is clinically depressed does not mean that they will have a bad time or a less enjoyable time than someone who is not depressed. how well the experience is enjoyed is subjective and veries from person to person and MDMA experience to MDMA experience.

one time the depressed person might have the best time of their life on MDMA while the preson who is not depressed has a lack luster experience but then the next time they does it could just as likely be the other way around.

This could sway more towards the depressed person having more bad MDMA experiences ( or no effects at all) when you factor in that the medications typically used to counter act depression block MDMA from working correctly.

 

[K-Dazed]

It depends, it's situational.

If you have lower serotonin levels, then I feel it is safe to assume you are going to have a diminished roll. Keep in mind that not all depressed people have low serotonin levels. Added to that, when serotonin gets released into the brain, only so much can be reuptake'd into the brain - meaning not all of the serotonin that is released binds with receptors.

I'm drunk, but pretty much the point I'm trying to get across is that it's situational and there's really no way to know, but most likely a depressed person will have a diminished roll in comparison to a happy person. Keep in mind this doesn't have to be a clinically depressed person, it could be a person depressed only for the day.

 

[dansydney]

Serotonin is often implicated in depression due to anti-depressants apparently working to lift mood(in some people). This may turn out with future research to not be the case but if one were to be clinically depressed due to a lack of serotonin reserves then takes MDMA, having 'less' serotonin then they could have a reduced roll I guess. Probably more important is that if they are clinically depressed they may have many other extraneous variables that affect their mood and experience of life. You cannot rule out these factors being responsible and it would be hard to say if they had the same strength of effects. It is totally subjective feeling unless you were to biologically measure neurotransmitter levels and try to relate that to some form of objective measurement of 'happiness' or 'pleasure' etc. Also, clinical depression is merely something that is diagnosed by a set of criteria and does not mean one person is necessarily different to another they just fit the criteria in the DSM and have been diagnosed. It is hard to say who is depressed or not as this itself is a subjective measure from the depressed person and also from the clinician assessing them and the scales used. An undiagnosed depressed person could have the same general feelings as a depressed person but never see a clinican so hard to say. You would need to test large amounts of people using many tests for depression and then have some take mdma and some not and see what their subjective rating of the experience is. Set and setting also come into this as a depressed person may have a lower expectation going into it or other factors that could reduce the overall experience. Overall I think its a very difficult question to answer and there are so many variables and subjectivity involved it may be difficult to get anything conclusive.